Why making a bet on herself is starting to pay dividends for Shoshanah Seumanutafa

Making a bet on herself is starting to pay big dividends for Shoshanah Seumanutafa.

An email sent on a whim 18 months ago has kick started a rugby journey that she hopes will take her from White Rock, British Columbia to Hamilton and Pukekohe in New Zealand, the SVNS World Series and potentially Twickenham and a Rugby World Cup final.

When Super Rugby Aupiki starts this weekend, the 12-test Canadian international will be something of a rarity when she takes the field for the Chiefs Manawa. While many of her team-mates have headed to the UK in search of game time, Seumanutafa has bucked the trend and will be just one of a handful of non-New Zealand international players lining up in the kiwi competition.

While in New Zealand for WXV in 2023, Seumanatafa decided to act upon a long-held interest in rugby in Aotearoa and got in touch with then Chiefs coach Crystal Kaua. She offered her services as a training partner, willing to pay her own way to spend time practicing and learning alongside the likes of Black Ferns captain Kennedy Tukuafu and double World Cup winner Hazel Tubic.

“I emailed her [Kaua] asking if I could just come train and see what happens. I really just needed to play rugby at that point because there wasn't much going on in Canada and she let me come in as a wider training squad player,” she explains. “I had a great time and was hoping I could come back.”

That hope has become a reality as Seumanutafa settles into life in Hamilton once again ahead of the 2025 season. After being part of the wider squad last year, she’s now a fully contracted member of the Chiefs team, her first professional rugby contract.

While Kaua has moved on to coach Brazil on the HSBC SVNS Series, new head coach Dwayne Sweeney and assistant Carla Hohepa were keen to get the robust midfielder back after she also impressed playing for Counties Manukau in the Farah Palmer Cup. This time she wouldn’t have to pay her own way.

“They called during WXV and asked if I would be available to be contracted. It’s the first time I’ve been fully paid to play which is really exciting, such a cool opportunity and my family was buzzing as well.’

While trying her luck in the UK and playing in Premiership Women's Rugby never really appealed, the reasons for Seumanutafa setting her sights on New Zealand run deeper than rugby.

Seumanutafa’s grandparents left Samoa in the 1990s and, while each of his siblings, like many, departed for New Zealand, Seumanutafa’s dad Pose chose to go to Canada. She lives with her aunty in Hamilton while the rest of her Kiwi-Samoan aiga (family) are based in Auckland. It means this Canadian kid is relishing the chance to connect and learn more about her Samoan heritage.

“It’s really cool. I've been so excited to learn, and I'm still learning a lot, which is awesome. There are more M?ori girls in the Chiefs so I’ve been learning that as well as the Samoan element.”

Culture is the backbone to all the Chiefs do as a club. Each season the men’s and women’s teams meet at the carved gates of Waikato Stadium to welcome new players, coaches and staff, along with their families, to the club with a haka. Last year Seumanutafa was part of the new group, this year she was able to welcome others.

“It’s crazy. A haka is never something I thought I would be doing so it's beautiful to be able to experience that side and I'm always in such awe when we get to learn about the cultural pieces like that.”

Lessons on and off the field have been coming thick and fast in what has been a giddy year for Canadian Rugby.

Seumanutafa was part of the team which beat New Zealand for the first time in the Pacific Four competition in May last year, helping them rise to number two in the world rankings. After playing WXV 2024 on home soil, the 25-year-old then made an unexpected debut for the silver medal winning Sevens team, playing in the first three tournaments of the new season before arriving in New Zealand.

Although a fairly established member of the wider squad, Seumanutafa knows the competition for World Cup places is going to be huge given the high expectations and standards that have now been set.

She concedes that gaining some insight into how rugby in New Zealand operates could be beneficial, this stint at the Chiefs is no scouting mission. Having lost in the Aupiki final the past two years, Seumanutafa is committed to the Manawa mission while also upskilling herself.

“Obviously, I really want to help the team win first and foremost. Personally, I want to grow my confidence and my ability to play in different situations, and I guess just to get more experience playing rugby, rather than just training all the time.”

Seumanutafa, who is predominately a centre, wants to absorb as much as possible from the likes of Kelly Brazier and Tubic.

“Hazel is so detail orientated and how she sees the game, sees the field is like she's just always two steps ahead of what's going to happen. For me, it’s learning how to predict what's next and identifying where the space is earlier”.

There’s a certain level of irony that a self-confessed nervous flyer took a leap that would send her around the world, but she hopes she is blazing a trail in Super Rugby Aupiki for other Canadians, or indeed other international players to follow.

While she is absorbing new cultures, connecting with family and getting a whole new rugby education, Seumanutafa may have also provided a lesson to others, showing that there’s always a payoff when you back yourself.